Just some curiosity

[Kalidas]

So recently the church of Satan came out with a statement to the Muslims of the U.S offering to help them places if they feel unsafe in their town. Personally I thought this was very admirable and really picked my interest.

I know a little about Laveyan Satanism and have a few questions that I hope won't come off as rude. I will stick with one for now as I consider how to word the others.

It appears many Laveyan Satanists are atheists. Which leaves me wondering why Satanism? why not be... Just atheist? Not trying to be rude just honestly curious. Again I have other questions planned but let's keep it simple first Thank you in advance.

 

[Sutekh]

Satanism is a "religion of the flesh," it's a self indulging philosophy which is epicurean. Satanism tends to be very complex for me to mention when many people are curious about my beliefs. It's, a philosophy and a religion of self deification where one is his or her own god, it's a carnal religion. It is a gift of ones self realization, many satanists including myself view Satan as an archetype or a figure. Satanism as well as being part of the Left Hand Path differs from the mainstream we tend to break social taboos that are unacceptable, we are non conformists as well. Satanism for me is a diabolical way of life to adhere to and to practice.

 

[Kalidas]

Satanism is a "religion of the flesh," it's a self indulging philosophy which is epicurean. Satanism tends to be very complex for me to mention when many people are curious about my beliefs. It's, a philosophy and a religion of self deification where one is his or her own god, it's a carnal religion. It is a gift of ones self realization, many satanists including myself view Satan as an archetype or a figure. Satanism as well as being part of the Left Hand Path differs from the mainstream we tend to break social taboos that are unacceptable, we are non conformists as well. Satanism for me is a diabolical way of life to adhere to and to practice.

Ah okay. So it is still quite a religion, just without an outer deity to revere. Not quite theism as there is no deity but not atheism as there isn't not one either you just place yourself in that position of God.

Assuming what I said is right, that makes sense why calling yourself "Just an atheist" would be incorrect

 

[Liu]

Are you sure it was the Church of Satan? I heard nothing of that kind, and it seems quite atypical of them to do any such actions at all - but I heard of some members of the Satanic Temple offering such, but that was many months ago.

Regarding the atheism, what Sutekh said, and also, even LaVeyans can be theistic; some parts of LaVey's writings sound much more deistic than atheistic.

 

[1137]

I'm guessing you mean the Satanic Temple? The CoS doesn't actually accomplish things lol.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

The offer was made by the Satanic Temples in San Jose and Minneapolis. You can read about the organisation at Wikipedia; like the Church of Satan, it's not actually a religion. Both use the figure of Satan as a symbol, an ideal, but the differences between them seem to be mostly political.

Incidentally, the Church of Satan has a headquarters and organises events, as you can see from their website.

 

[Sutekh]

like the Church of Satan, it's not actually a religion.

When you mention the Church of Satan being "not actually a religion," what do you meen? Yes I do agree that Satanism is a philosophy, but I also regard it as the carnal religion itself.

 

[Kalidas]

Ah I see where the confusion came from thank you. That was also going to be another question of mine. What little reading I did of Laveyan Satanism (I would like to actually buy the Satanic bible and give it a read) sometimes appears to be at odds with the Satanic temple. The temple is a political movement and leans heavily liberal (in some cases not all) while the tenets of Laveyan Satanism tends to sound more... carnal (I think that word is oppropriate), talking of the weakness in man, and to exercise an eye for an eye code of conduct etc... Which left me wondering why the differences, if maybe there were multiple sub groups with differing philosophies and ethnic codes. But now I see one is a religion as Satan as a kind of religious symbol, and the temple being a political group.

Again thanks for the patience and kindness, Satanism has always been an intriguing philosophy to me as I was raised Chistian most of my life till I adopted into Hinduism. Even then, Satanism is still very alien to me (and most people I think), so I wanted to learn more.

 

[Liu]

The temple also consider themselves a religion, though, they have published tons of statements on that.
Some say they claim that only for political reasons, but there seems to be more to it, at least for some members.

And yes, Satanism is split into a myriad of subgroups with different philosophies etc. There is not even a real definition to what is Satanism - you simply have to study a variety of subgroups to get a feeling for it.

 

[Kalidas]

The temple also consider themselves a religion, though, they have published tons of statements on that.
Some say they claim that only for political reasons, but there seems to be more to it, at least for some members.

And yes, Satanism is split into a myriad of subgroups with different philosophies etc. There is not even a real definition to what is Satanism - you simply have to study a variety of subgroups to get a feeling for it.

Sounds similar to Hinduism. You would be surprised the amount of different philosophies in Hinduism also. Theists, desits, monists, montheists, pantheists, poltheists, and even atheists(a group I myself am finding myself fall into). Seems we share that in common with one another.

And here I was thinking it was either Laveyan Satanism or Luciferarnism.

So next question this idea of self worship, how exactly do most people go about this? Honestly it is not entirely an alien concept to me. Despite having an alter to a particular deity I really doubt the existence of any deities at all, but rather a "Devine essence" present amongst all thing. So for me personally worship is (as I explained to an atheist friend) my attempt to find the Devine in myself by projecting outward on to something else (in my case Kali) to make the journey to find that "godness"(bad term but best I can come up with) in myself... I have even adopted the mantra of "Be the God you wish to worship". Is it generally similar to that? Or a bit different?

 

[GoodbyeDave]

When you mention the Church of Satan being "not actually a religion," what do you meen?

By a religion, I mean a belief or practice concerning mankind's relationship with the divine. That's what ordinary people mean by it. If some-one wants to call their philosophy a religion I can't stop them, but it's only corrupting the language. You then get sociologists calling Marxism a religion, which angers the Marxists and violates the first rule of anthropology: the description must be acceptable to those being described.

To quote Collingwood, "There are no religions without a god or gods: what have passed by that name have either been philosophies [e.g. Laveyan Satanism], or religions whose gods have escaped the eye of the observer [e.g. Theravada Buddhism], or a kind of mechanical contrivance put on the market by a deluded or fraudulent inventor [e.g. Scientology]."

 

[Sutekh]

So next question this idea of self worship, how exactly do most people go about this?

Parts of the idea of self worship where you worship yourself to be a godhead is part of the WLHP, in most cases parts of Luciferianism and some branches of the WLHP focuses on becoming like a god such as becoming like Set. The WLHP and including my own path focuses on not submitting to a god or to an entity. Many of us of the WLHP do not pray nor bow down, it is a tough journey for one to bear with. WLHP by the way is the western left hand path.

 

[Kalidas]

Parts of the idea of self worship where you worship yourself to be a godhead is part of the WLHP, in most cases parts of Luciferianism and some branches of the WLHP focuses on becoming like a god such as becoming like Set. The WLHP and including my own path focuses on not submitting to a god or to an entity. Many of us of the WLHP do not pray nor bow down, it is a tough journey for one to bear with. WLHP by the way is the western left hand path.

That does sound a little difficult, but a bit honorable if you ask me. At the end of the day all wrongs fall on your shoulders, no God is going to come and save you, you must save yourself, you can't just pray your problems away, with such freedom comes a lot of responsibility. It's as if you are bearing the weight of the world on your shoulders.